The short answer
Typical website builders cost roughly £20 to £40 per month on their entry-level commerce plans — about £240 to £480 a year, or £1,200 to £2,400 over five years — before transaction fees, paid templates, third-party plugins and design help. A one-off BadeStudio Pro build costs £950, no monthly platform fee, and you own the code. A custom site usually pays back inside 3 years and saves money every year after.
Typical 5-year cost comparison
| Option | Year 1 | 3-Year Total | 5-Year Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry-level commerce builder (~£20–£30/mo) | £240–£360 | £720–£1,080 | £1,200–£1,800 |
| Mid-tier commerce builder (~£30–£40/mo) | £360–£480 | £1,080–£1,440 | £1,800–£2,400 |
| BadeStudio Pro (one-off) | £950 | £950 | £950 |
Typical builder pricing as of May 2026 — check the provider's current plans. Figures exclude transaction fees, paid templates and third-party plugins. An optional BadeStudio Care Plan (£39/mo) covers SSL, security and small content edits — most clients self-maintain.
What to factor in when comparing builders
Wix, Squarespace and similar builders are great for getting online quickly with a starter site. Once your business grows, the total cost picture shifts. Things that often get overlooked:
- Transaction fees: some plans charge a percentage per sale on top of payment-processor fees. Check the provider's current fee schedule.
- Paid templates: premium designs typically run £30–£250 one-off.
- Plugins and add-ons: booking, advanced SEO and members-area extensions are usually £10–£20 each per month.
- Portability: most builders do not let you export a working, self-hostable site — only your content. Switching platforms usually means a rebuild.
- SEO and performance ceiling: template builders ship a lot of JavaScript and give limited control over schema markup, which can hold back Core Web Vitals — see our Core Web Vitals guide.
Where custom wins
- One-off fee. No monthly platform tax forever.
- You own the code. Move hosts anytime.
- Built to target Lighthouse 90+. SEO-ready, AI-ready (GEO/AEO).
- Custom design, not a template thousands of sites share.
Where builders win
If you need to ship a basic site in 48 hours, change everything yourself daily, and never plan to scale traffic above a few hundred visits per month, a builder is a perfectly fine choice. For everything else, custom usually pays back inside 3 years and keeps paying.
The honest verdict
If your website is mostly a marketing brochure that no one really visits, save the cash and use a builder. If your website is supposed to drive bookings, leads or sales, a custom build from around £950 tends to be the lower-cost option over any window longer than 36 months — and you keep the asset.
Related: See custom vs WordPress, how much a UK website actually costs, or jump to our pricing.
